2026 Spartan Atlanta Race Review
By OCR Kings Reporter At Large
David
Best
Atlanta.....also known as “The ATL”, Hot
'Lanta or simply the “Big Peach”......but we Spartans know this as
the first race of the season where we will be truly tested and tested we were
in this seasons installment. Itwas held the weekend of March 14-15 2026
at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Georgia. This venue
has long been a Spartan staple and with attendance numbers of 1062
open Beast racers and 1467 open Sprint racers on Saturday as well as
1442 open Super racers and 912 open Sprint racers on Sunday, it should
continue to do so for many more seasons. Spartan has also added a new
category with doubles racing. They offer this in all three race lengths
and allow two racers to sign up for one Spartan Race together to compete in
a collaborative, team based format. I think it's a great idea and it
introduces more people to the Spartan lifestyle aka “The Spartan
Addiction”!!!!!
The venue and Conyers itself lies about 25
miles from Atlanta and the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
It's usually about a 40 minute drive, but with all the road construction we
seem to be running into around the country these day, allow about an hour
travel time. There is a plethora of
hotel and dining options and Spartans can even stay at a hotel that is conveniently located across the street from
the venue. I stayed more in town where I was in walking distance of more
dining options.
Obstacle and Race Review
After dealing with flat race venues in SoCal
and Jacksonville earlier in this race season, now come the rolling hills and
mud of Atlanta. They haven't had the rain this year as they've had in
years past, so the course itself wasn't quite as muddy, but it wasn't by any
means a clean race. One young first time Atlanta Spartan racer commented
to me about how muddy the race was and I looked at him and said “You
should have been here the last three years”!!! LOL!!!! There were a total
of 34 obstacles for the Spartan faithful to overcome and they are as
follows: 4 Ft. Over Walls, Hurdles, Inverted Wall, Monkey Bars, 6 Ft Wall,
Helix, 7 Ft Wall, Bender, Twister, Stairway To Sparta, Chain Carry, Cliff
Climb, Bucket Carry, Multi-Rig, Barbed Wire Crawl, Atlas Carry, Z Wall,
Spear Throw, Barbed Wire Crawl #2, Herc Hoist, Tyrolean Traverse,
Irish Tables, 8 Ft Wall, Beater, Armer, Bridge, Sandbag Carry, Barbed Wire
Crawl #3, Plate Drag, Vertical Cargo, Rope Climb, Slip Wall,
A-Frame Cargo and the Fire Jump.
I was surprised that Olympus was not an
included obstacle this year and I guess the highlighted obstacles at the event
this season would be the cliff climb (A specific obstacle at this venue),
barbed wire crawl #1 that included rolling mud that went into Atlas
Carry then into Z Wall. Z Wall was almost undo able as your shoes were caked
with mud which made footing almost impossible. We did have a
combination obstacle in sandbag carry into barbed wire crawl #3 and back to
the beginning to drop your bag. They did change up the course this season
which did limit the mud a bit, but replaced that with more rolling hills and
a little longer course length. I did like the change of scenery and we only
had to cross a busy road on the Beast course unlike having to cross that road
for both the Beast and Super Courses in prior seasons. The new course
layout included us traversing a trail under a bridge and into a large meadow
that had Bender and Twister back to back waiting to foil the toughest of
Spartans. The weather on Saturday was quite nippy in the morning,
which made the Monkey Bars quite changeling with cold, wet hands. But,
once the sun came up, it became a beautiful day for racing with
temperatures in the mid 70's.
Sunday was a bit warmer in the morning, but we had to battle drizzling rain from mid-morning on and what made it really fun was the half mile walk we had from the venue to the parking area. We know this as the “Spartan Death March” and after a Trifecta Weekend battling both course and the elements, it is a Death March!!! But I used the rain for an additional wash and changed for my trip to the airport once I returned to the car.
My Trip Home and Final Thoughts on This Atlanta
Race Weekend
I live in Florida and I like the Atlanta
venue as it's a quick 90 minute flight to Atlanta from Orlando. I arrived at the
airport Sunday afternoon for my 6:40 flight to Orlando, only to find out it
had been delayed due to weather and was told we were to leave at 10:00, then
midnight and ultimately having my flight canceled. I then had to
spent the night at the Atlanta airport. In the morning, I asked the airline
what was the quickest way back to Orlando and they responded by flying
Raleigh-Durham, NC and then a flight to Orlando. So I did that and flew to
Raleigh-Durham. Once there I found that all flights to Orlando were
delayed, so I spent my Monday at the airport waiting. About 10:00 that
evening, all flights were canceled to Orlando and I wasn't about to spend
another night in the airport. So I caught a shuttle to a nearby hotel, got a
room, a hot shower and some well deserved sleep. I usually don't sleep well in
hotels, but had no problem that night. Up in the morning, breakfast and back
to the airport where I saw my flight was delayed once again. I was to fly
out at 5:30 that afternoon, but didn't fly out until 12:50 AM on Wednesday
morning. I Finally arrived back home at 4:30 AM where my wife was
waiting for me at the front door with a cup of coffee and a heartfelt “Welcome
Home”........... FINALLY!!!!
This wasn't the “Best” of race weekends for me and as I was waiting for my flight to Atlanta on Friday morning, I received a call from my wife to tell me that my mother had lost her battle with cancer. And while it's a blessing she's longer in pain, the void it's created in me will never be filled. I did welcome the distraction this race weekend provided me as well as the support all my Spartan brothers and sisters showed me. This is a great venue for Spartan, but the only recommendation I could make is to move it from the “Spring Break” time frame as it seems every time I attend this race, I run into travel problems. I was able to visit the venue on Friday before the race and met another Spartan named Phil. And guess what.....he is an OCR Kings subscriber!!! So Phil, here is your shout out and hope you had a fantastic race weekend!!!!
An Update On The Quest For The Spartan Spear
AKA The Quest That Never Was!!!!
Last season,
I decided to try to complete 13 Trifectas in a Spartan season to achieve the prize of a Spartan spear. Upon
completing my 13th Trifecta in Central Florida in December, I contacted
Spartan concerning my prize for winning my war. I received a “What are
you talking about” from customer service and was told to contact
Spartan Race Greece customer service and I did multiple times with no
response. I finally sent an Email to Joe De Sena personally and did receive a
response from him. He referred me to Yara Yara Yara. She is a Spartan Race
Goddess and did complete 52 Trifectas last season worldwide. She informed
me that to receive a spear, I would have had to have 13 Trifectas under my
belt by the Trifecta World Championship in West Virginia. I did the math
and found I would have had to participate in every U.S. held Trifecta
weekend between SoCal and the World Championship held 9/5-9/8 excluding the
Hawaii Trifecta Weekend. For most people, an impossible task. I then
asked why have any Trifecta weekends after the championship if they don't
count for this? And I never received a response. The closest I came to
the Spartan Spear was at the World Championship where I was able to hold
one and snap a few photos.
So use my experience as a lesson if you ever
want to set forth on you own quest for the Spartan spear and immortality.
So until my next report from he Palm Beach race weekend, this is your OCR
Kings reported at large, David Best, bringing you all the “BEST”
Spartan offers us!!!!!
